Musical Delicacies

Festa di Sua Maestà Cæsarea Leopoldo

Baroque courtly and folk dance, horse(!) ballet, street music, and above all music
from the pen of Emperor Leopold I. are connecting
the story of today’s girl Margaret and her “trip to the 17th century”,
where she is guided by Bishop Szelepcsényi and Empress Margarita, Leopold’s
first wife.

Plot

Act One

🔎 Horse ballet: Follia — click to enlarge image.

We are in present days, in an art gallery of old
masters. The young girl Margaret came here in error and is going bored. Mysterious
figures from the paintings offer her adventures and they enter into history, right into
the turmoil of the ceremonial procession in the streets of Vienna, heading for the
wedding of the Imperial couple. Bishop Szelepcsényi becomes a willing guide for her,
so within the wedding festivities, Margaret experiences the marriage ceremony the the
cathedral, a magnificent horse ballet, and she also takes part in a banquet and the
happy dancing in the castle. The personal encounter with the young Empress Margarita,
who becomes her second guide to the Baroque world, is an unforgettable experience
for Margaret.

Art Gallery of old masters. Young Margaret visiting.

The figures in the paintings come to life and draw Margaret into their history.

Vienna. A festive parade through the streets leading to the wedding ceremony.

Courtyard of the Imperial Palace. Celebration — Horse Ballet.

Ceremony in the cathedral.

Banquet in the Chateau (violin: Davide Monti).

Act Two

Celebrations also take place in the street and among the population. Life goes on in
the castle and in the streets, but entertainment seems to be a human need that has to be
fulfilled. However, the apparent is bought by the great sacrifices and problems of the
Empress itself. Relief and help are sought in prayer, which we encounter in Mikulov in
1668. To her excitement, a group of comedians performing a scene from the ancient play
The Judgement of Paris, – the Empress herself wrote the opera:
Pomo d’Oro!

Market in the city — life on the street (violin: Davide Monti).

Pilgrimage to Mikulov.

Performance of the street comedians — Pomo d’Oro.

🔎 Pauwel Casteels: Battle of Vienna (excerpt).

Act Three

Great danger and an uncertain future — in 1683 the invincible Turkish troops
reach the gates of Vienna. Relief cannot come in time, the end is unavoidable. The
Emperor turns to prayer. Auxiliary troops, led by the Polish King
John III. Sobieski, arrive at the last minute
and save Vienna and thus the entire Christian Europe. There is again a reason to
celebrate! Margaret is delighted to return to the modern world filled with
experience, admiration and respect for past generations.

Musicians

Marta Kratochvílová¹ (CZ) — traverso

Davide Monti¹ (IT/FR) — violin

Andreas Torgersen (NO/CZ) — viola

Ivan Bečka (SK/AT) — viola

Petr Wagner (CZ) — viola da gamba

Jan Čižmář (CZ) — theorbo, guitar

¹ soli.

Michal Marhold
was born in Prague. He was introduced to the world of opera by the leading opera soloist of Janáček’s
opera of the National Theatre Brno, Andrea Priechodská-Široká, from whom he obtained the much needed technical
foundations. He studied at the Brno Conservatory (with Petr Julíček) and conducting (with Aleš Podaril),
currently he studies at the Janáček Academy in Brno (with Ivana Mikesková). In 2016 he was invited to work
with the European Music Academy on the project of three Mozart operas (Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro and
Cosi fan tutte). For his role in this project, he was awarded the President of the EMA Prize. He also
works as a soloist with the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra in Zlín and the North Bohemian Philharmonic
Orchestra in Teplice. This year he debuted as Papageno at the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Plzeň and the
Schiller Theatre in Berlin. He is a soloist of Opera Diversa and of
BROLN. His repertoire encompasses
i. a. a significant role in Jiři Pauer’s mono-opera
Labutí píseň (Swan Song), in which he portrays a man suffering from mental schizophrenia.

Kristina Kubová
studied singing and piano at the Jan Neruda Secondary School with Musical Focus in Prague (today’s
GMHS). After graduating
from secondary school she obtained a Bachelor’s degree at the Faculty of Humanities at the
Charles University, Prague. However, during the Prague studies, she successfully passed the entrance
exam for singing at the the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno. She is currently
studying under the artistic direction of Natalie Romanová-Achaladze. From 2003 to 2013, she attended
courses at the International Summer School of Early Music in Valtice, where she studied in the classes
of Marek Špelina, Robert Hugo, Marek Štryncl, Irena Troupová and Beatriz Lafont. She is a member of
Trio Kerberos (oboe, guitar, vocals) where she and her colleagues focus on Old English and Sephardic
songs. She also performs with the Brno Jewish ensemble Ha Chucpa, for example at the Festival
yidische muzik in Stuttgart. Since 2013 he has been working with the contemporary
composer Zdeněk Zahradník, thanks to whom she performed, i. a.,
the main female roles in the world premiere of the oratorio Ó, matko Země
(Oh, Mother of the Earth).

Linda Kunclová
was born in Strakonice, where she also received her first music education. She continued her studies at
the Conservatory in České Budějovice (Budweis) with Dagmar Volfová. She has recently been attending the
second year at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno under the direction of the soprano
Tatiana Teslya. Already at the Conservatory she had the opportunity to work externally in the opera choir
of the South Bohemian Theatre and on its summer scene, the Revolving Theatre in Český Krumlov. She still
performs occasionally at the South Bohemian Theatre. She is also interested in other forms of theatre;
during her studies in České Budějovice, she was a member of the University Student Theatre (SUD), which
focuses on works by students. She is a member of the creative theatre ensemble Artists on the Shaped
Leg. She teaches solo singing at the Basic Art School in Tábor.

Marek Mokoš
graduated in opera direction at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (JAMU) in Brno, as well as in acting
and opera singing at the Conservatory in Bratislava. During his studies he completed an internship at the
Bayreuth Wagner Festival and at the Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts in Kraków. He directed numerous operas
including Pimpinone (Telemann), Don Giovanni (Mozart), L’impresario in angustie (Cimarosa),
L’isola disabitata (Haydn), Orfeo ed Euridice (Gluck), stage performances of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater
and Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ. As a co-director of the project VCHOD (Research Center for
Musical-Operatic Theatre, under JAMU), he staged the operas Opportunity makes the thief (Rossini) and
The Kiss (Smetana). As assistant director, he had the opportunity to work with David Radok at the
National Theatre in Brno on the production of the opera The Makropulos Case (Janáček), and he assisted with
the opera Romeo and Juliet (Gounoud) at the Slovak National Theatre. He also collaborated with Ensemble Opera
Diversa and Wartberg Collegium.

🔎 click to enlarge image.

Les Plaisirs de la Danse
is a group of dancers working under the direction of Margit Legler. These young professional dancers standing at the
beginning of their international career have come from around the world wishing to study at the Ballet Academy of the
Vienna State Opera. During their studies they attended an intensive course of historical dance with Margit Legler,
who chose her best graduates to participate in the Festa di Sua Maesta Leopoldo project.

Margit Legler
was born in Vienna. After a career as dancer of the Ballet of the Vienna State Opera and extensive participations
in both contemporary and baroque choreographies, she specialized in historical performance practices: Historical dance,
singing and acting.
Stagings of baroque operas: Mozart: The Magic Flute (Tokyo, 1994), Gluck: Il parnaso confuso (Gluck, Budapest, 1998),
Gassmann: Il trionfo d’Amore (Ballenstedt, 2000),
Purcell: Dido & Aeneas (Weimar, 2001; Händel-Festspiele Halle/Saale, Goethetheater Bad Lauchstädt, 2008),
Gluck: Il parnaso confuso (Salzburg, 2009; Schloss Schönbrunn Vienna, Schlosshof, 2009),
Telemann: Ino (Budapest, 2012), Gluck: Il Parnaso confuso (Aarhus, Grenå, Give/DK, 2012),
Caldara: Il Giuoco del Quadriglio (Salzburg, 2013), Gluck: La Corona (Salzburg, 2014),
Händel: Lucio Cornelio Silla (Herne, 2016; Händel-Festspiele Göttingen, 2017; Ludwigsburg, 2018).
Extensive teaching activities in all of Europe; in Austria i. a.
in Innsbruck (Innsbruck Barock), Graz and Vienna (Resonanzen). – Lectureship for historical theatre dance for singers
at the University of Music, Vienna (1989–2009) and
at the Mozarteum University, Salzburg (since 2013). Lectureship for historical dance at the
at the Dance programme of the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna (since 2006)
and at the Wiener Staatsoper Ballet Academy (since 2010). Lectureship for historical acting
at the Mozart Opera Institute of Mozarteum University, Salzburg (since 2011). Performances as a singer and dancer
in the spirit of the historical performance practice. Since 2015 professor for “Historical dance”
and “Period acting techniques” at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna.

Plaisirs de Musique specialises since 2013 on authentic interpretations
of early music on period instruments, its members being leading European experts in the field. The projects that
the ensemble performs in are partly regular concerts, but they also comprise collaborations on staged, dance and
opera productions. The ensemble appeared in concerts at various festivals at home and abroad (Germany, Austria,
Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands and Belgium). Its artistic leader Jan Čižmář
is taking inspiration especially from recent discoveries from musical archives, and strives for an attractive
presentation of early music in the context of other disciplines of art. The ensemble’s activities also
include educational events and concerts for children.

Jan Čižmář
is a versatile performer focusing on historical plucked instruments. He performs regularly in Europe, Asia and the USA
with ensembles such as Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment,
Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Capella Cracoviensis, and under conductors such as
Frans Brüggen, Christopher Hogwood, Giovanni Antonini, Yannick Nézet–Séguin and Christina Pluhar. He appears also as
soloist with of baroque and renaissance repertoire, and is the artistic leader of the ensemble
Plaisirs de Musique. After graduation in guitar and musicology in his native Brno he studied at the
Royal College of Music in London, where he began playing the lute in the class of Jakob Lindberg. He continued his studies
at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with the teachers Nigel North, Joachim Held, Mike Fentross and Christina Pluhar. He
was the founder and editor of the Czech guitar magazine Kytara and contributes regularly to other musical periodicals. He
is also intensely involved with publishing and research activities in the field of early music. Jan Čižmář taught lute and
related instruments at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice in Poland; currently he is teaching at the
Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (JAMU) in Brno and at the Academy of Ancient Music
at Masaryk University in Brno. He regularly gives courses and masterclasses in Europe and overseas.

Thank you

The performance enjoys
the auspices of
the Minister of Culture of the Czech Republic Mgr. Daniel Herman,
the Governor of the South Moravian Region JUDr. Bohumil Šimek and
the Mayor of the Statutory City Brno Ing. Petr Vokřál.

It takes place
with financial support from
the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic,
the South Moravian Region and
the Statutory City of Brno.

We thank the National Heritage Institute and the Czech National Trust
for a pleasant and creative cooperation and for their confidence in us.